We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Devon Stoebe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Devon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I first knew I wanted to pursue Photography after I had my first daughter! I had taken Photography classes in school but just as an elective for creativity! Once I had my daughter, I wanted to photograph her milestones all the time but being a stay-at-home mom and on one income with my husband it was too much to invest in someone else taking our photos all the time! I knew I could do it and loved the medium, so I one day started to research cameras, editing programs and then sat my husband down and told him I wanted to start a photography business and ran with it! I had hopes of just getting enough people to hire me to just pay off my camera and gear but I had booked in so many people so quickly and just loved being able to have something just for myself, on my own time to work on and I loved it! That was when I knew I wanted to invest in mentorships, and workshops to better understand the true business of Photography and never stopped! I am entering into my 10th year of being a professional photographer and still learning and changing every day! Being able to be in charge of my schedule, take on the types of sessions that I desire and still be able to be there for my children and all their milestones and day to day makes it the perfect job for me!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Devon Stoebe. I am a mom of two girls, ages 11 and 8. I started photography 10 years ago after my first daughter turned 1. I started photography as a means to capture her more often and it quickly turned into a business of capturing milestones and precious memories for others! I loved being able to create art from other people’s stories who uniquely reflected them. Being able to capture weddings, newborn photos, and engagements is such an honor! I get to be in moments that some of the closest people to them don’t get to be a part of! I always feel so honored to be chosen to capture these moments for clients because I know there are so many photographers to choose from these days! I think what sets me apart from others is I authentically want to be there; I equally choose my clients that choose me. I don’t just work with anyone just for the income. I love working with clients that are equally excited and appreciative for the art form of photography, for the work that goes into it and the craft behind it. That trust in my vision and can feel my calmness so that they too feel calm and can relax and actually enjoy their session they are investing in! To me photos should be true moments being created in the moment and an opportunity to create a memorable moment together so that they can always look back at their images and remember the experience not just the photos. I am always the proudest when clients tell me how comfortable I made them feel, how patient I was with their children. That to me matters just as much if not more than them just loving their images! My brand and style are timeless images, that are true to color with just a splash of added magic, and I try to create my images to look as close to film as possible! I love the color tones and the softness it provides, and it never goes out of style (at least in my opinion. ;) ) I love to create interaction in sessions and movement and love to create real joy, laughter and fun whenever possible! If you work with me, I will most definitely be in your corner to create a fun experience for all!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest things I had to “unlearn” is that I had to specialize in one particular category of photography, or I wouldn’t be successful. I originally started off with newborn photography and family sessions! I was told I needed to stick to one style to succeed! As much as I understand the reasoning behind this, I just kept finding myself interested in it all! I did my fair share of mentoring in only newborn photography for a bit, but as much as I enjoyed it, I just didn’t have enough clients just in that category. So, I started taking on different types of session and just really enjoyed them all and loved the opportunity to do something different and be creative in different ways. I didn’t feel stagnant in one thing all the time. I started sharing all sessions and what made it successful I believe is that I just made sure to share all form on my social media platforms so that it was consistently showing that I was actively shooting what clients were interested in.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I am currently pivoting in my career from doing a lot of weddings each year to just accepting only a few per year! The reason for this is my daughters are both full time in school and I only get to enjoy time with them on the weekends. Most weddings are on weekends which was taking me away from them more then 12 hours a day! I love love shooting weddings and very use to the income stream from weddings, but making the pivot to less has equally been a challenge as far as knowing future income. I know longer have a long-term idea of what I will be making because I don’t have weddings booked in months in advance. I have had to shift my monthly mindset to just being a bit more flexible on taking weekday clients and more session on the weekends but still being able to be available more with my daughters! It has been enjoyable to have more time with them and also less time editing because weddings are a lot more time-consuming editing wise as well! It has been a learning experience as well income wise as inflation rises to wonder if I choose the right time to do this, but mentally it has been enjoyable to have additional time! I overall happy with my decision and always know if I want to take on more weddings again, I can start to do that again in the future! I recommend always trying something out because we will never know until we do!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.devonstoebephotography.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/devonstoebephoto
• Facebook: facebook.com/DevonStoebePhotography

Image Credits
All images have been taken by myself! Devon Stoebe Photography